Towel rail



March 9 1926. 1,576,077

H. D. WATSON TOWEL RAIL Filed Feb. 21, 1924 Hen ry D. BY W 5 ATTORNEYPatented Mar. 9, 1926.

Parent HENRY I). werson, or rnlna'nnrirnm, PENNSYLVANIA,

TOWEL RAIL.

\ Application filed February 21, 1924. Serial No. 694,326.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY D. WA'rsoN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Towel Rails, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to towel rails or racks, and an object of theinvention is to provide a support either in the form of a rail or rackfor towels, wash rags, dish cloths or analogous articles, which isdesigned to prevent the fabric article such as the towel or the likefrom slipping from the support. i

It is a wellknown fact that considerable difficulty is experienced inpreventing towels, wash rags or the like, and particularly relativelyheavy bath towels from slipping off the towel rails or supports, and itis also known that a towel must be evenly balanced on the rail toprevent it from slipping therefrom so that oftentimes in brushingagainst the towel it is caused to slip from the rail either upon thefloor or frequently, into a bathtub which may be filled with water,rendering the towel useless until it has been thoroughly dried and oftencauses considerable inconvenience to the person desiring the use of thetowel; it is also a dilficult matter to properly keep a wet wash ragupon its supporting rail since if the rack is not properly balanced, itwill slide off the rail and either become soiled or otherwise renderedunfit for use.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rail or rackdesigned to support various fabric articles which will prevent theaccidental slipping of the articles from the rail or support and willsecurely hold them in place regardless of the respective porportions ofthe article located on opposite sides of the rail, thereby eliminatingnecessity of balancing the fabric article on the rail and eliminatingthe care necessary with such proper balancing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device as specified,which is simple in construction, and may be manufactured at a relativelylow cost and one which will permit several towels to be held upon therail or support in such manner as the withdrawal ofany one of the towelsor fabric articles will not dislodge the others, and

the other, and the first or upper towel removed without accidentally(lislodging or removing the lower ones. 7

Other objects of the invention will appear in the following detaildescription, and in the accompanying drawings wherein:

'Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved towel rail.

Figure 2 1s a cross section through the 1mproved towel rail taken on theline 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a cross section through the towel rail taken on the line 33of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation I of amodified form of thetowel rail.

Figure 5 is a cross section taken on the line 55 of Figure-4L.

F'gure 6 is a cross section of a further modified form of the towelrail.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the improved towel rail orholder comprises the rail 1 which may be constructed of any suitablematerial, and is preferably circular 'in cross section. present areconstructed of metal tubing, porcelain, glass, wood and various othermaterials, and it is to be understood that the present inventionembodies the construction of the rail of any of these or other approvedmaterials, without departing from the spirit of the invention; and it isalso to be understood that the rail may have rounded ends to permit theconnection thereto of attaching flanges or it may be constructed in amanner similar to any of the various approved types of towel rails andtheir supporting structures. The said features, are secondary, relativeto the present invention.

The towel rail 1 is provided with a longitudinally extending groove 2 sothat the longitudinal sides will preferably lie in a vertical plane andan insert 3 of any suitable non-slipping material having non-slipping orsemi-elastic material having adhesive proclivities inserted therein.This strip 3 may be made of rubber, or any other suitable material.However, it is preferable to use rubber of a semi-elastic nature in thatit will not absorb water or moisture and therefore the life of theinsert will be materially increased in {cases where Wet wash. rags aresupported from the holder. The insert 3 Towel rails, at

A beyondthe outer surface of the rail 1, and

it may be found ui'inecessaryto provide the pro ections thereon forcertain uses.

In F1gures 4- and 5,0f the drawings, a

modified form of theinv'ention is shown in which the rail 10 hasrecesses 11 drilled therein, which spaced points have substantiallycylindrical inserts 12) of a non-slippery o'r semi-elastic material ofadhesive proclivities are inserted in the respective rccesses andproject beyond the outer surface of the rail iorengagement with thetowel or other analo ous articles to be supported from the rai i j V InFigure 6 of the drawings, the rail 20 is illustrated as constructed ofmetaltuhing, and the edges 21 of thetubingare intuIrned to provide a:longitudinally extendingopening along the upper side of the rail intowhich the insert 22 is forced-L It" will be noted that the insert 22 isprovided with longitudinal grooves 23 into which the curved edgeportions Q of the edges '21 engage for securely connecting the insert 22to the rail. Tlie insert 22 is constructed of the same type of material,as the inserts 3 and l'l, and serves the-same purpose;

VVhilein the drawings,thegtowel rail is shown as of the single rigidlymounted type, it is to hev understood thatthe invention, namely, thenon-slipping insert of semi elastic material, may he used in connectionwith the holders embodying a plurality of pivotallyl supported rods,each of which may carry the insert or inserts if desired.

It is, of course, to be understood, that the invention may beconstructed in various other manners and. the parts associated indifferent relations, and-therefore, I do not desire to be limited in anymanner, except asset forth in the claims hereunto appended;

What I claim is: i c 7 1. As a new article of manufacture, a towel railhaving; longitudinally extending inturned edge portions, disposed inspaced relation to provide a longitudinally extending groove, an insertof non slippery semielastic material insaid groove.

2; As anew article of manufacture, a towel rail having longitudinallyextending inturned edge portions disposed in spaced relation to providea longitudinally extending groove, an insert of non-slippery semielasticmaterial in said groove, the edges of said inturned edge portionsheingbent laterally and "said insert being provided with longitudinallyextending grooves for receiving said laterally bent edges HENRYnwa'rson.

In testimony whereof I affix my signa ture. i j

